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[…] to the comments for this post?Email this to a friend?I learned the sad news this morning through several fellow Civil War bloggers that David Herbert Donald, renowned Lincoln scholar, passed away on […]

I was born in March of 1961, just as the Civil War Centennial was about to pick up steam. I was fortunate to be growing up in a house that brimmed with books, primarily those pertaining to American history. One of the volumes that set in motion my devotion to Civil War history was David Donald’s, “Divided We Fought”. Having such a finely produced collection of images and succinct text was one of the great fortunes of my childhood.

My favorite David Donald book: Liberty and Union. Donald’s Lincoln seemed to be more reactive than proactive. I am enjoying Ron White’s Lincoln quite a bit and would put Stephen Oates’ Lincoln among the top three biographies on Lincoln along side Allen Guelzo’s works and White’s books.

A great man from the old school has left us. His body of work will long survive him, of that I am confident.

May I recommend to you Larry Tagg’s just-released “The Unpopular Mr. Lincoln: The Story of America’s Most Reviled President” (June 1, 2009)? Larry just signed about 100 copies in our office. His is a very interesting and brilliantly written history of the president as seen by those who were his contemporaries. There is a good interview on our site (or will be shortly) at http://www.savasbeatie.com.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!